Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Servings: Makes about 3/4 cup.

You'll need a large whisk, sometimes called a balloon whisk, a medium mixing bowl (I use one of my sturdy stainless steel bowls), and a piece of damp paper towel placed under the bowl so that it doesn't slip and slide against the counter as you mix because you'll need both your hands free.

[It is always important to note that when using raw eggs that anyone who has health concerns should either used pasteurized egg yolks or simply not make this.]

This recipe makes about 3/4 cup. If you want to make more you can just double these quantities but remember that it will also take twice the time to mix so get that arm ready to whisk for about 10 minutes. Have all your ingredients at room temperature and measured out before you begin. You can store your mayonnaise in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Ingredients

1 egg yolk (large or extra large)

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3/4 cup (150 ml) bland vegetable oil; canola is a good choice

1 to 2 teaspoons white wine or Champagne vinegar, or lemon juice

Fine sea salt

Tabasco sauce

Directions

Place the egg yolk in the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon mustard and use your whisk to break the yolk and combine with the salt and mustard, but don't over mix.

With the whisk in one hand and the measuring cup of oil in the other, begin adding the oil in a very thin stream -- just barely faster than drop-by-drop. Whisk constantly to combine the yolk with the oil. Start with tiny amounts and as you mix, you will find that you can speed up the rate of adding the oil as the emulsion starts to form, i.e., it starts looking like mayonnaise.

If at any point you seem to have added too much oil or added it faster than the yolk can absorb it, stop adding the oil and keep whisking until it seems well combined. Then start dripping the oil again, always continuing to whisk and only adding as much oil as the yolk can absorb.

If after adding about half the oil the emulsion seems too thick, you can add a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin the mixture. Then continue to add the oil until it's all combined.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and vinegar or lemon juice to taste. Instead of using pepper, use drops of Tabasco or another hot sauce to taste so that you won't have little flecks of pepper in your mayonnaise.

Using Homemade Mayonnaise

There's nothing you can do to homemade mayo that you can't do with the one you buy at the grocery store. But because you're starting with something that is so vastly better tasting than the store-bought stuff, every dish you use it in will be notably more delicious because the mayonnaise will actually add flavor and not just oiliness.

Here are some things to do with your own mayonnaise:

Add a tiny dice of celery, red onion and pickles and toss with good oil-packed canned tuna.

Add a couple of teaspoons of good balsamic vinegar and mix. Serve as a sauce with roasted chicken.

Use in your favorite recipes for potato or macaroni salad or cole slaw instead of your usual store-bought mayo. You will be impressed by how better the flavor will be.

Add extra mustard to your mayo and a generous dice of celery or raw fennel and chopped hard-boiled eggs for a special egg salad. This is a stand-out lunch to take to work.

Homemade mayo can transform the simplest piece of fish. Add extra lemon and some chopped fresh chives and serve as a sauce with cold poached salmon. A bit of wasabi mustard added to mayo is excellent with a pan-seared tuna steak.

Major Grey's Chutney and mayonnaise mixed together makes an outstanding chicken salad dressing (use chunks of a store-roasted rotisserie chicken but make sure it's completely cooled before dressing with the mayo).

For roast turkey leftovers, combine homemade mayo and cranberry sauce and spread on rye bread to make turkey sandwiches.

A little saffron added to mayonnaise makes a lovely sauce for steamed mussels.

Very similar to mayonnaise is aioli, a French sauce that is made with olive oil instead of vegetable oil, plus garlic. In a classic and particularly wonderful Provençal dish, aioli is served with salt cod and boiled vegetables. The stronger the flavor of the olive oil, the stronger the taste of the aioli.

But my favorite thing to do with homemade mayo is make céleri rémoulade. See our recipe.